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Hong Kong man arrested after extendable baton found...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Hong Kong police have arrested a man after finding an extendable baton in his checked luggage bound for the United States, marking the second discovery of an unauthorised weapon in airline baggage this week. The force received a report on Friday after airport security staff made the find, prompting officers to arrest the 62-year-old local man. “Preliminary investigations showed that the man had hidden a suspected extendable baton, an unauthorised weapon, in his checked suitcase,” a police...

Honouring ancestors, shaping empires: the story of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

In dark blue suits, the elders of the Khoo clan gathered outside the prayer halls of the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi, a grand 190-year-old clanhouse in George Town, the capital of the Malaysian state of Penang. One by one, they stepped inside for the Tung Chen ceremony, held annually on the first day of the winter solstice, a ritual that draws together members of the Khoo clan, one of the oldest Peranakan communities, from far beyond Penang. As smoke filled the air, Khoo Kay Hock, a senior...

A year after near total blackout, China builds...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Just over a year after an incident that nearly triggered a cascading failure across China’s national power grid, engineers have developed the most powerful smart direct current (DC) transformer on the planet – an innovation poised to neutralise renewable energy shocks to the system. The technology addresses an urgent need following a near total blackout in August last year, when low-frequency swings triggered by poorly integrated wind energy in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region threatened

China influencer with 44 million followers banned for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

A Chinese influencer with 44 million online followers has been banned for live-streaming a “vulgar” pool party at a hot spring. The influencer, who uses the handle Liu Ergou, live-streamed the party involving about 20 people for nearly three hours. It reportedly attracted more than a million viewers on a short video platform where Liu had 44 million followers. The live-stream features many close-ups of scantily clad women’s breasts and hips. Liu and other male participants are also seen

‘Hell car parks’: mainland Chinese drivers hit bumps...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

A mainland Chinese motorist travelling to Hong Kong under the southbound drivers scheme was fined for illegally parking this week, while another faces accusations of using tinted windows. The force said on Saturday that it was following up on the second case in response to a complaint about a social media post, with the driver in question accused of not adhering to the city’s requirements for windscreens to have a “transparency that would not obscure the view of the interior”. Hong Kong...

How Trump ‘stunned’ China; why Western hegemony has...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Catch up on some 2025 entries in Open Questions, SCMP’s series of in-depth interviews with global opinion leaders. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.1. ‘Delusional’: Jeffrey Sachs on why Western hegemony has ended American economist sees China as key to the global energy transition to zero-carbon energy, especially in markets outside US and Europe. 2. Ex-diplomat Kerry Brown on how Trump ‘stunned’ China with his ‘lack of caution’ King’s College,

Russia likely moving nuclear hypersonic missiles that...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Moscow is likely stationing new nuclear-capable hypersonic ballistic missiles at a former airbase in eastern Belarus, a development that could bolster Russia’s ability to deliver missiles across Europe, two US researchers have found by studying satellite imagery. The researchers’ assessment broadly aligns with US intelligence findings, said ‌a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share information not authorised for public release. Russian President

Nexperia China eyes new wafer suppliers in 6 months...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Nexperia China, the estranged unit of the Dutch chipmaker, is pushing forward with efforts to secure new wafer suppliers in six months, as the firm’s Netherlands head office and mainland Chinese owner Wingtech Technology started direct talks last week. In its shareholders meeting in Shanghai on Friday, Wingtech said Nexperia China’s plant in Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province, continued to operate amid “a significant gap in wafer supply”, reports from several state-backed media...

Soaring to the top: China appoints first female...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

China has appointed its first female pilot to exclusively captain flights on its home-grown C919 jet, with more aspiring women waiting in the wings as the nation expands its talent pool and systemically transitions elite pilots who used to fly Boeing and Airbus jets to operate the narrowbody airliner. Yu Yue, who made a high-stakes switch from her decade-long career flying the US-made Boeing 737 to be a C919 captain this year, has become a source of inspiration for many in the

Hong Kong to deploy 1,000 hospital staff to guide...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Hong Kong public hospitals will deploy more than 1,000 service ambassadors to assist residents when healthcare reforms take effect next Thursday, with authorities saying the system revamp to accommodate the fee changes is entering its final stage. Director of Cluster Services Wong Yiu-chung said on Saturday that public hospital systems, including billing and dispensing, had been updated to reflect the adjusted fees aimed at addressing structural challenges in the healthcare sector. Under the...

6 injured after vehicle swerves to avoid detached...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Five men and one woman have been injured at the Hong Kong airport after the vehicle they were travelling in swerved to avoid a detached cargo container. Police said they were alerted to the accident on South Runway Road at about 10.30pm on Friday. A special-purpose vehicle was travelling uphill towards the airport apron when its attached cargo container suddenly came loose. The light goods vehicle following behind swerved to avoid the detached container and crashed into a roadside...

Thailand, Cambodia sign new ceasefire deal to end...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an “immediate” ceasefire on Saturday, the two countries said in a joint statement, pledging to end weeks of deadly border clashes. At least 47 people were killed and more than a million displaced in three weeks of fighting with artillery, tanks, drones and jets, according to official tallies. The conflict spread to nearly every border province on both sides, shattering an earlier truce for which US President Donald Trump took credit. “Both sides agree to an...

Back reforms and align with nation, outgoing Legco...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Incoming lawmakers should prioritise helping the Hong Kong government advance policy reforms and strengthen integration with national development, the outgoing Legislative Council president has said as he prepares to step down. Andrew Leung Kwan-yuen also said on Saturday that the new lawmakers would need to assist the government in devising a prudent and pragmatic budget, set to be unveiled in February, and tackling the aftermath of the Tai Po fire that broke out on November 26 and claimed

‘First by letting myself move on’: how Hong Kong mum...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

One month after the deadly Tai Po fire, survivors are slowly rebuilding their lives. In the second part of a series on how the community is moving on, Fiona Chow tells the story of one mother’s journey to find stability and hope for her young family amid loss and change. Read the first part here. Hong Kong mother of two Christy Lee has had to rebuild her life and provide stability for her young children after losing her husband and her home in the Tai Po fire last month. The social worker,

South Korean president set to visit China next month,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Lee Jae-myung is set to become the first sitting South Korean president to travel to China since 2019 with a visit scheduled for early January. Analysts said Lee was expected to engage Beijing on security issues, including North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and the enforcement of international sanctions, while seeking to build on his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October. Neither side has confirmed the visit, but preparations are under way, highlighted by a recent strategic...

Singapore in 2025: election fever, courtroom drama,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Singapore saw plenty of drama unfold this year, from pickleball courts to the Supreme Court. The city state was gripped by election fever in May, when the People’s Action Party maintained its dominance at the polls. On the trade front, Washington’s imposition of a 10 per cent tariff on Singapore elicited a strong reaction from Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. The jury is still out on whether US President Donald Trump would introduce levies on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, which could

2 killed in Japan as 50-vehicle pile-up leads to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

A massive crash in snowy weather killed two people and injured 26 on an expressway in Japan late on Friday as the country kicked off its end-of-the-year holiday season. The Gunma prefectural highway police said on Saturday that the pile-up on the Kan-etsu Expressway started with a collision between two trucks in the town of Minakami, about 160km (100 miles) northwest of Tokyo. A 77-year-old woman from Tokyo died, while a body was found in the driver’s seat of a large truck, police said. Out

Hong Kong’s Operation Santa Claus strengthened by...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Morgan Stanley’s fundraising drive for Operation Santa Claus (OSC) has kept the firm on course to remain the campaign’s top corporate supporter for the ninth consecutive year, extending a partnership of nearly three decades that has engaged employees across divisions, seniority levels and borders. According to Gokul Laroia, CEO of Asia at Morgan Stanley, the global financial services firm’s enduring support for OSC reflected its long-term commitment to giving back to the community, as...

Shorter quarantine time drives rise in pet imports...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Hong Kong has seen an increase in applications to import pets after the city cut the quarantine period for cats and dogs from mainland China from 120 to 30 days. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) also said that a greater number of quarantine units at its new Kai Tak complex had further reduced waiting times for pet owners relocating to Hong Kong and hoping to bring their animals with them. The department said it received 291 applications for pet quarantine in the...

Safety fears as Japan prepares to restart nuclear...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2025/12/27

Campaigners against nuclear energy have condemned Japan’s decision to resume operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant, claiming that the facility will be unable to withstand a major earthquake as it was “built on tofu”. Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the operator of the Niigata prefecture plant, on Wednesday applied for a final examination of the facility to the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). Approval is likely to be a formality as the prefectural assembly already gave the nod

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